That’s no normal sentence LMAO. Let me translate:
A boy, whose nose was thin—a sign of winter taking its toll, and as stripped of flesh as a dog’s gnawed-on bone would be—crouched by Scrooge’s door to sing him a carol. However, right after he said the first stanza of “God rest ye, merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay—”, Scrooge grabbed his cane so menacingly, the boy immediately fled, leaving his doorstop barren and alone in the heavy fog and even heavier frost.
You could probably understand that just fine. I’ve said the same thing, but language evolves and Dickens is difficult to understand.
Honestly, if it’s going to take you hours to read through and the reading process isn’t fun for you, you may as well watch one of the many movie adaptations out there. It’ll take less time and you’ll get the same/a better amount of understanding. (This isn’t meant as an insult; reading should be enjoyable, and I didn’t find Christmas Carol enjoyable to read, either. The Muppet Christmas Carol is a favorite childhood movie of mine, though.)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It was summer homework (aka bullshit) and I wasn’t interested in spending my free time analyzing complex racial themes, nor did I really get it as a fourteen-year-old. I found I appreciated the book waaaaay more in my 20s when I approached it on my own.
That being said, The Road, To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond are stuck in my head.